Flower With Stripes

The Highland Games were a bust for me. Sluggish sales. 'Nuf said about that. Time to move on.

I made this little flower today. I was going to tackle something a bit more ambitious but the studio is an absolute mess and must be cleaned up before I start something new.

One More

This is the last one. Now with the few hours that I have left, I will spend fine tuning (packaging, making an inventory list, setting up the booth, etc) and pray for decent weather. The weather forecast isn't too promising but "they've" been wrong before. It IS what it is.

Orange Flower

I finally finished the Orange Flower that I started a while back. I may complete one more item to sell at our booth this Saturday and Sunday, depending upon how my stitching fingers hold out.

They're calling for rain all weekend so who knows what the turnout will be for the Highland Games. Rain or shine, I intend to have a good time. I'm sharing a booth with my friend and glass artist, Julia Dawn.

Face Chunk by Travis Merrick

Today we took possession of the sculpture I talked about a few days ago. It's called Face Chunk by local sculptor Travis Merrick. Hubby and I think he does wonderful work. Too bad he doesn't have a website or I would link to it.

If I remember correctly, he told us this started life as larger piece but the stone cracked. Fortunately he was able to salvage part of the face. Isn't it cool?

Tartan Cat Resting

Here is my latest kitty. I used the same pattern that I designed for my blog header except this lady is facing the opposite direction. There's still plenty of work to be done before the show on Saturday.

I want to thank Belinda for giving me a blog award. It really is gratifying to know that someone follows and appreciates what you're doing. Now the thing is that I am supposed to pass this award on to eight other bloggers who inspire me, but I find this to be a difficult task. All the blogs listed in my blogroll have inspired me in some way. Hope no one thinks I'm a Spielverderber for not playing.

Mini Portrait 5 - Busy Day

Hubby and I went to an art festival today and bought a stone carving. Then we went to a local Ribfest and bought a beer and fries.

The stone artist meant for the piece to be displaying on a table. Unfortunately we're not the "display art on a table" type of people. Our tables tend to get cluttered with other things and so the art would be lost. Instead, we've asked the artist to drill a little hole on the back and glue a hook so that we can hang it up on the wall where it can really be appreciated. We have to allow a day for the glue to dry so it should be ready for us to pick up in a few days. I'll post a picture of it then. The carving is a partial face (now how did you know that would appeal to me)?

Tartan Icicle Doll

Another Icicle Doll completed for the Highland Games. There's an order for putting these dolls together quickly and easily and every time I start working on one, I do it a more difficult way. Note to self: Write down instructions for future reference.

Mini Portrait 4

Icicle Doll

Another item completed for my booth at the upcoming Highland Games. I should make a few of these in tartan fabric too as they're quick and easy to do.

It's certainly much more fun to work when you do it for the pure enjoyment. Not as much fun when you're trying to produce as much as possible to meet a deadline. I just keep pluggin along...

And hey, what's up with this weather here in Southern Ontario? Mid-July and we haven't even had a heat wave yet. My skin loves heat and humidity. :(

Mini Portrait 3

Here's another completed mini portrait with a tartan ribbon frame.

Simple Flower With Tartan Ribbon

The title says it all.

Mini Portrait 2

I couldn't figure out what to do with the tartan ribbon my friend Julia gave me. Then it occurred to me that the simplest thing to do was to use the ribbon as a picture frame.

I have a few of these ready to be completed. It's just a matter of co-ordinating the colours of the fabric, faces and tartans. (Thanks to Judy Merrill-Smith for the celestial background fabric).

African Gold and Bathing Bird

Here is another ornament completed which I call "African Gold". I actually painted the face and cut the fabric last summer, but decided to add a few colourful buttons and stitch it together now.






















Below are a couple of photos my sister sent me. She captured the bird bathing in the fountain situated in her beautiful garden. I loved this so much that I asked her if I could share it with my readers and she said yes. :)

Mini Portrait

Having received some fabric in a swap with printed squares, I thought it would be interesting to do a series of mini portraits. With yarn in my stash that perfectly matched the colours on the fabric (although it might not be so evident in the photo) I completed the project with a few dusty rose coloured beads and transparent sequins for some sparkle.

There are four panels left. Then I thought what if I did some portraits with various quilt blocks. Will have to give that a try.

Yard Sale-ing & WIP's

I went yard sale-ing with a couple of the ladies in my neighbourhood. I like the company and chatting to people and usually you get to meet an interesting cat or dog along the way. This week I met a most adorable cockapoo (I miss critters since my cat died).

I spent a grand total of $8.50 on an old Schlitz beer poster for hubby (50 cents, but he's worth it), $4.00 for a pair of handsome wood carvings and $2.00 each for the above pictured sewing reference books. I couldn't believe I lucked out with the books - they look like they've never been opened. I may not do as much fashion sewing these days as I would like to, but I still love flipping through sewing books and reading about sewing.

Below are a couple of items I am working on right now. I'm trying to get as much done as I can for my booth at our local Highland Games and have lots of pieces in the works but nothing completely finished yet. More to come.

Green Celestial "Flower" with MacKenzie Tartan Ribbon

This gorgeous green cotton is part of a large package of fabric pieces and trims sent to me by Judy Merrill-Smith. I love the colours and it looks good with the MacKenzie Tartan